F1 in Singapore: There's a new fastest car now

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Formula 1’s lengthy 2026 season is entering its final stretch. The sport took to the floodlit streets of Singapore on Sunday night, but Saturday saw action, too; this Grand Prix weekend was also the final of six sprints this year.

一级方程式赛车 2026 赛季漫长的赛程已进入最后阶段。周日晚上，这项运动在新加坡灯火通明的街道上举行，但周六也同样精彩；这个大奖赛周末也是今年六场冲刺赛中的最后一场。

The night race might be one of modern F1’s greatest spectacles. From overhead shots, the track becomes a bright, illuminated ribbon among the looming darkness of the city-state’s overpasses and skyscrapers. At ground level, the cars shower glittering sparks from their titanium skid blocks as the drivers flirt with how close they can get to the walls.

这场夜赛或许是现代 F1 最壮观的景象之一。从高空俯瞰，赛道如同一条明亮的丝带，穿梭在城市国家高耸的立交桥和摩天大楼的阴影之中。在地面视角，赛车钛合金底板摩擦出的火花四溅，车手们在挑战与墙壁之间的极限距离。

As tracks go, the 90-degree turns and concrete barrier-lined streets were a world away from the abrasive tarmac and ample runoff of Malaysia last time out. But the tropical heat and humidity were a constant given both locations’ proximity to the equator.

就赛道而言，这里的 90 度弯道和混凝土护栏街道，与上一站马来西亚粗糙的沥青路面和宽阔的缓冲区截然不同。但由于两地都靠近赤道，热带的高温和潮湿始终如一。

In Malaysia (which was still technically the Bahrain GP), a pre-race downpour disrupted things mightily. On Saturday morning in Singapore, shortly before the start of the sprint, it seemed history was about to rhyme when the skies opened. With standing water in places on the track, the sprint was delayed by 30 minutes.

在马来西亚（当时技术上仍属于巴林大奖赛），赛前的一场倾盆大雨严重干扰了比赛。周六上午在新加坡，冲刺赛开始前不久，天空突然下起大雨，历史似乎又要重演。由于赛道部分区域积水，冲刺赛推迟了 30 分钟。

The sprint format, where a short extra race replaces a practice session a day before the main event, is unloved by the drivers and teams. For one thing, there’s little prestige in winning Saturday’s sprint. And with qualifying just a few hours later, risk-taking is discouraged lest one wreck the car and ruin Sunday’s race a day early.

冲刺赛赛制——即在正赛前一天用一场额外的短距离比赛取代练习赛——并不受车手和车队的欢迎。首先，赢得周六的冲刺赛并没有多少荣誉感。而且由于几小时后就要进行排位赛，车手们不敢冒险，以免撞毁赛车，提前毁掉周日的正赛。

And in Singapore, like most street circuits, the proximity of the unyielding barriers that line the track means there are real, punishing consequences for getting it even a little wrong. Which is what happened to George Russell.

在新加坡，像大多数街道赛道一样，赛道旁坚硬的护栏意味着一旦出现哪怕一点点失误，都会带来严厉的惩罚。乔治·拉塞尔就遭遇了这种情况。

The Mercedes driver went into this season as the title favorite, only to see those hopes evaporated by a combination of car unreliability and a young teammate, Kimi Antonelli, who appears to be a generational talent. A win in Azerbaijan in September was a chance for Russell to get back on terms with Antonelli, but he failed to finish in Malaysia, and his sprint didn’t last much longer.

这位梅赛德斯车手本赛季初被视为夺冠热门，但由于赛车可靠性问题以及年轻队友基米·安东内利（看起来是一位跨时代的天才）的崛起，这些希望化为泡影。九月份在阿塞拜疆的胜利本是拉塞尔追赶安东内利的机会，但他没能在马来西亚完赛，而他的冲刺赛也没能持续多久。

It started well. The track was still far too wet for slick tires, so the entire field lined up on intermediate treaded tires. Russell’s Mercedes made a much better start from second on the grid than polesitter Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, and he stole the lead. A lap later, Russell’s sprint was over, and his car bent and broken after he misjudged the final corner.

比赛开始时很顺利。赛道对于光头胎来说依然太湿，因此所有车手都换上了半雨胎。拉塞尔的梅赛德斯赛车从第二位起步，起步表现远好于杆位得主马克斯·维斯塔潘的红牛赛车，并抢占了领先位置。一圈后，拉塞尔的冲刺赛就结束了，他在最后一个弯道判断失误，导致赛车受损报废。

“I went a little bit wide, and then I touched the white line. The No. 1 rule in the rain is don’t touch the white line. It’s a very silly mistake–overly confident. I think it’s my first crash of the year. It’s annoying to happen from that position,” Russell said after the fact.

“我跑得稍微偏了一点，然后碰到了白线。雨天驾驶的第一准则是不要触碰白线。这是一个非常愚蠢的错误——太自信了。我想这是我今年第一次撞车。在那个位置发生这种事真的很烦人，”拉塞尔事后说道。

Verstappen benefited from Russell’s mistake, inheriting the lead. For a while, Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari appeared to be a threat. But intermediate tires will begin to overheat as the track dries, which soon affected Hamilton and the other Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc. At the end of 20 laps, he crossed the finish line first.

维斯塔潘从拉塞尔的失误中获益，接管了领先位置。有一段时间，刘易斯·汉密尔顿的法拉利赛车看起来构成了威胁。但随着赛道变干，半雨胎开始过热，这很快影响了汉密尔顿和另一位法拉利车手查尔斯·勒克莱尔。20 圈后，他率先冲过终点线。

Surprisingly, this was Verstappen’s first victory in Singapore. Although, as mentioned, he didn’t exactly see it as such. “I want to win tomorrow,” Verstappen said after the race. “I don’t see this as a win in terms of actually winning a Grand Prix, you know. So we need to have a good qualifying. It will be very close with a lot of cars, I think, and we just need to try and make sure, of course, we are the best one out of them.”

令人惊讶的是，这是维斯塔潘在新加坡的首场胜利。尽管如前所述，他并不完全将其视为一场胜利。“我想赢下明天的比赛，”维斯塔潘赛后说。“我不认为这算是一场真正的大奖赛胜利。所以我们需要在排位赛中表现出色。我认为竞争会非常激烈，我们只需要确保自己是其中最强的一个。”

His Red Bull was recently updated, and in combination with a power unit that has the strongest V6 in the field (if perhaps not the best hybrid system), it may be the fastest car on the grid, at least in Verstappen’s capable hands. A few hours later, he secured pole position in qualifying for Sunday’s race.

他的红牛赛车最近进行了升级，再加上拥有赛场上最强劲的 V6 发动机（尽管混合动力系统可能不是最好的），这或许是目前赛道上最快的赛车，至少在维斯塔潘手中是这样。几小时后，他在周日正赛的排位赛中夺得了杆位。

It was a lights-to-flag victory for Verstappen, even with the added complication of radio troubles—he could hear his engineer, but his replies were unintelligible. Such was his pace and tire management that he was able to stop for tires and leave the pits without giving up the lead.

维斯塔潘最终从起步到终点一路领先夺冠，尽管期间遇到了无线电故障的额外麻烦——他能听到工程师的声音，但他的回复却无法被听清。凭借出色的速度和轮胎管理，他甚至在进站换胎后依然保持着领先地位。

“The car was really good on the tires. I could really manage them well. But to be honest, I think it was one of the first times that I’ve driven in clean air here in Singapore in the race, so I guess that’s also nice. And yeah, it’s been just a fantastic weekend for us,” Verstappen said.

“赛车对轮胎的保护非常好。我能很好地管理它们。但老实说，这可能是我第一次在新加坡的比赛中处于领跑位置，所以这感觉很棒。是的，这对我们来说是一个美妙的周末，”维斯塔潘说。

The last three races have seen two wins and a second for Verstappen. “I really think, of course, that our car has taken a really nice step forward. But at the end of the day, yeah, it’s just been more driveable and more predictable. That’s what I wanted and needed from the car to find that last step to fight up front,” he said.

在过去的三场比赛中，维斯塔潘获得了两场胜利和一个亚军。“我确实认为我们的赛车取得了很大的进步。但归根结底，它变得更容易驾驶且更可预测了。这就是我想要和需要的，为了在前方竞争迈出最后一步，”他说。

A newly resurgent Verstappen, currently in fourth place, could be a threat for second place in the standings by season’s end. Not that he really cares. “I hope that we can carry that momentum forward. We don’t really have anything to win in the championship.”

目前排名第四、状态复苏的维斯塔潘可能会在赛季末对积分榜第二名的位置构成威胁。虽然他并不太在意。“我希望我们能保持这种势头。我们在锦标赛中其实已经没有什么可争取的了。”